Slider bars are operated with a mouse or other user input device which typically involves selecting and dragging the bar. Once the bar has been dragged to a certain location in a tabbed collection of sub-objects, such as pages in a tabbed collection of pages within a spreadsheet, the user must move the mouse pointer, click, etc. to raise the tab, then begin operating within the now raised or selected tab. Common organization methods for collections of objects or information cause the user to be required to select from a plurality of sub-object categories within a more general category or tab. This organization causes the requirement to repeat the slider bar movement, selection click, and repositioning of the input device for a new slider bar movement in a repetitive cycle.
Horizontal and vertical slider bars are a convenient mechanism for operating within a graphical user environment. They have numerous applications, such as viewing multiple pages within a spreadsheet, selecting time-based data from a time series of data objects, or selecting among multiple objects within a plurality of objects which may be viewed in some form of table. As the complexity of the data increases, however, the need may arise for nested slider bars, such as a slider bar which selects displayable objects or windows from a plurality of objects or windows, and a second slider bar which scrolls the data within that object or window. Such nested slider bars can create clutter and reduce the amount of viewable space.
Therefore, it would be advantageous to have a slider bar, either horizontal or vertical, which was able to change “mode” or “purpose”, based on the user's behavior and feedback from the graphical user interface.